Traditional protective suits made for playing hockey have protective padding covering substantially the entire body to protect the wearer primarily against flying hockey pucks and swinging hockey sticks. The padding of these suits is extremely bulky and inflexible causing the suit to be heavy, hot to wear and quite expensive. Often the hockey padding is attached to the body by wrapping padding pieces with tape. This procedure is a cumbersome, time-consuming operation, making the suit difficult to put on and take off. In addition, when the wrapping procedure is used, the protective suit is in several pieces, making the suit susceptible to forgotten or misplaced pieces of equipment.
Specific disclosures of protective clothing can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,248,738, 3,484,868, 4,035,844, and 4,084,264. U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,738 issued to Morgan on May 3, 1966 relates to protective padding structures characterized by interior portions formed of porous resilient material. These interior portions are all at least partially surrounded by a resilient, essentially air-impervious barrier. The padding construction disclosed is used in conjunction with relatively rigid surfaces disposed on the opposite sides of the porous interior.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,868, issued to Davenport on Dec. 23, 1969, discloses an athletic pad having a retaining plate attached to one side with slots in the retaining plate slidably mounting male snap connector members connectable to female members on an elastic portion of an athletic uniform so that stretching of the elastic portion is enabled by sliding movement of the male connectors in their support slots.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,844 issued to Atack on July 19, 1977, discloses a trouser-like article of clothing which combines the functions of underwear, socks, garter belts and crotch protector, which may be worn under conventional sporting clothing, e.g. hockey pants. The article of clothing has auxiliary pockets provided at the knees and thighs for the insertion of additional padding, if desired. The knee and thigh pockets are stitched on three sides with the top being open to permit the insertion of the padding.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,264 issued Apr. 18, 1978, discloses a batting jacket having a batting side and a non-batting side. The material of construction is of a quilted nature in the protected area and is non-quilted, relatively thin fabric in the non-protective area.
In beginners' ice or roller skating, or in children's hockey, where pylons or cones are pushed around instead of pucks, the greatest danger to the skater is injury caused by falling. Beginner skaters and hockey players, therefore, do not require the excessive padding of the traditional hockey suits with its associated problems. A skating suit with all the padding inserted therein would also have the advantage of helping the mothers and caretakers of the skaters to remember all the pieces of their suits, as it is a common problem to forget some of the multitude of pieces generally associated with traditional skating suits. In addition, young children between the ages of 2 to 6 have no desire to emulate adult hockey players with the excessive padding. There is, therefore, a need for a protective suit designed for beginner skaters which does not have the excessive padding of the traditional hockey suit, yet protects the wearer against falling injuries.
In addition, often, young children have not yet developed the discipline to hold urges to urinate. Therefore, a suit which is easy to put on and take off is desired by the mothers and caretakers of these young skaters so that the suit can be removed at a moment's notice in the bathroom. Furthermore, as children are often known to dirty their clothing, a washable protective suit is highly desired.
It is an object of this invention to provide a protective suit designed especially for toddlers or juniors which has minimal padding but protects against falling injuries which is easy to put on easy to take off and is washable.